BROOKLYN, MI – Although it’s been decades since soldiers returned home from the Vietnam War, a server at the Beach Bar recently welcomed home one veteran the “proper” way.

Brooklyn Township resident Alicia Langford, 24, works as a server at the Beach Bar and recently picked up the tab for a 69-year-old Vietnam veteran, who was dining at the restaurant with his brother.

“They were treated so horribly when they came back and did not get the respect military members get when they come back from war,” Langford said.

The Vietnam vet, Walter Szuper from Rockford, Mich., couldn’t have been more grateful, and surprised.

“It was wonderful…heartwarming, that doesn’t even begin to put it in perspective,” he said.

No one has ever offered to buy him a meal to thank him for his service, he said.

As a former Marine, Langford was “floored” to learn this was the first time the veteran has received this type of acknowledgement for his service.

In late October, Szuper and his brother, Steve, were returning from a hunting trip and decided to stop at the Beach Bar for a light meal of soup and beer. Szuper always wears his United States Marine Corps/Vietnam War veteran hat.

The two brothers sat in Langford's section. After she dropped the bill off at their table, Szuper and his brother jokingly started arguing over who was going to pay it. At first, they didn’t notice an arrow had been drawn on the bill directing the two to turn it over.

“I thought it was peculiar and turned it over and saw the note thanking me for my service,” Szuper said.

The note he received on the back of the bill read “Your check has been taken care of, sir, from a fellow USMC veteran, thank you for your service.”

It was signed “Cpl. Langford.”

“I called the young lady over to the table and asked who picked up our bill to thank him, assuming it was a male,” Szuper said. “She stood there and looked at me and said 'It’s me.’”